Supported VMware USB passthrough devices from an ESX/ESXi host to a virtual machine

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Supported VMware USB passthrough devices from an ESX/ESXi host to a virtual machine

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Article ID: 315272

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Updated On:

Products

VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

This article provides information about supported ESX/ESXi USB passthrough devices.

The devices not in the following list are available for passthrough including USB storage devices, USB dongle devices etc.

USB devices such as mice and keyboards that have a bootable HID interface.
USB devices such as real time video cameras and audio devices that use isochronous data transfers.
USB devices on which an ESXi host is installed. For more information, see VMware support for USB/SD devices used for installing VMware ESXi (1010574).
USB CCID (chip/smart card interface devices). To enable passthrough for USB smart card reader, see, Unable to passthrough a USB smart card reader to a guest operating system in ESXi version 6.x and later (55789).
USB hub.

Environment

VMware ESXi 4.1.x Installable
VMware vSphere ESXi 5.5
VMware vSphere ESXi 6.0
VMware ESXi 4.1.x Embedded
VMware vSphere ESXi 6.7
VMware vSphere ESXi 6.5
VMware vSphere ESXi 5.1
VMware vSphere ESXi 5.0
VMware vSphere ESXi 7.0.0
VMware ESX 4.1.x

Resolution

For details on configuring USB devices for passthrough from an ESX/ESXi host to a virtual machine, see USB support in ESXi/ESX 4.1, ESXi 5.x, and ESXi 6.x (1022290) or the USB Configuration from an ESXi Host to a Virtual Machine section of the vSphere Virtual Machine Administration Guide.

For HP Proliant servers experiencing issues with VMDirectPath, this is a known issue in VMware ESXi 5.1, Patch Release ESXi510-201307001 (2052143) and later. This issue is addressed in VMware ESXi 5.5, Patch Release ESXi550-201501001 (2099265) and later.